Sick workers rescued from Antarctica
A US Air Force medevac plane carrying three sick workers from an American research station on the Antarctic coast landed in New Zealand today, after a daring flight to the icy continent, officials said.
Flights are suspended to Antarctica around the end of February each year when the Southern Hemisphere winter makes it too cold to fly, and only resume in October.
Authorities made an exception to rescue three sick staff members at McMurdo station run by the US National Science Foundation.
An air traffic control official in the southern city of Christchurch confirmed that the US Air Force C-141 Starlifter jet touched down there safely just before 7am Irish time.
The Washington, DC-based NSF later confirmed the flight’s success and said three people were rescued. It was not clear if the workers were to be treated initially in New Zealand or immediately flown to the United States.
A brief statement from the NSF gave no details of the patients or their conditions.
